Ex-Prime Minister Hatoyama Used by Iranian Propagandists?

Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama recently returned from a trip to the Islamic Republic of Iran where he met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad used the meeting to issue new denials of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, and the Iranian media reported that Hatoyama agreed with the president:

“International trust-building and respecting regulations are important issues for the world community,” he said, according to a statement issued by Ahmadinejad’s office.

“They should be seriously pursued given the double standards by the IAEA towards some nations, including Iran, which is not fair.”

Hatoyama late Monday denied making the comments and said Tehran had “completely fabricated” them, Kyodo news agency reported.

“I have made no comments that deviate from the stance of the Japanese government,” Kyodo quoted him as saying on his return to Tokyo.

Both the Japanese government and the opposition parties told Hatoyama not to go to Iran because they were concerned Iran would only use the meeting to spread official propaganda justifying its nuclear development program.

“We knew (Iran) would definitely take advantage of the meeting. It happened just as we expected,” said Toshimitu Motegi, policy affairs chief of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, the main opposition force.

“Hatoyama is responsible for the problem, but the government and the (ruling) Democratic Party of Japan are partly responsible, too, because they failed to stop” Hatoyama from going, Motegi said.

“I told him that I would like him to be thoroughly aware that he is a former prime minister,” Gemba told reporters, suggesting he is concerned that Hatoyama’s trip to Iran may have resulted in dual diplomacy differing from the policies of the current government.

Despite the government’s repeated calls not to visit Iran at a sensitive time, Hatoyama still pushed ahead with his Iran trip, saying he wanted to “personally” make efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the current standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.

It looks like “Loopy” Hatoyama won’t be winning a Nobel Peace Prize any time soon….

Oh dear. All this guy had to do was pay his taxes and not go anywhere near foreign policy and he could have survived at least another year as PM – and a lot more of the DPJ manifesto would have been accomplished in the meantime. Might have even survived being annihilated in the upper house elections… And it looks like he still won’t learn…

Anonymous

Or maybe he’s the same as the other PM’s Japan has seen in the past decade, senile indecisive men at best…

yankdownunder

Junichiro Koizumi is the same as Hatoyama. I guess you think all Japanese are the same.

Abe and Aso are also so much better than Hatoyama or anyone from DPJ .

Kevin not kevin

Are you talking about the same Abe who quit his job as Prime Minister because of diarrhea? You know nothing about Japanese politics.

yankdownunder

When are you and the Hatoyamas planning your next visit to Venus?

Kevin not kevin

As soon as Hato-popo gets back from his whirlwind tour promoting Iran nukes and gets his new space suit fitted.

Don’t worry, Abe and Aso are coming with us. Aso to misread the kanji on the map, and Abe to make sure the toilet is operating correctly. Because we all know that incompetents are definitely better than incompetents.

And Badwolf, he had the condition since he was 17. If he knew it was a problem, and he said it flared up once a year, he should have never taken the top position in the Japanese government. That’s not only irresponsible, it’s a threat to national security.

Badwolf

Abe stepped down because of ulcerative colitis, which is significantly more than simple diarrhea.

Badwolf

And Kevin not Kevin, my point is simply that you should not characterize UC as simply diarrhea. I really don’t care about the rest of your drivel.

Bran

“It looks like “Loopy” Hatoyama won’t be winning a Nobel Peace Prize any time soon….”

Are you kidding me? I’m not sure how much you know of the topic but given the heavily slanted media coverage it would be understandable if you picked up quite a bit of disinformation and propaganda. If you’re interested in what Japan is doing wrong on the issue you could read about it here:

Suffice to say Hatoyama is certainly more deserving of such an award than recent recipient Barack Obama, who claimed his in the midst of promoting several new military interventions.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

What exactly did Hatoyama accomplish with this visit?

“Hatoyama is certainly more deserving of such an award than recent recipient Barack Obama”

That isn’t saying much.

Level3

“It looks like “Loopy” Hatoyama won’t be winning a Nobel Peace Prize any time soon….”

Funny. Isn’t the Nobel “Peace” Prize often given to people who actually make the world a more dangerous and deadly place?
(Presidents engaged in multiple wars, “former” terrorists, hippies giving modern nuclear reactors to North Korea, hypocritical environmentalist doomsayers who think there should be fewer people in the world – or at least fewer brown-skinned people, etc.)

This kind of silliness probably at least gets him a nomination!

Badwolf

Jimmy Carter.

Anonymous

Iran is an important country to Japan and the two nations share deep relations.
there are many people friendly to Japan…

they aren’t Japan’s enemy.

Piglet

Iran is a religious dictatorship. Fundamental freedoms are not respected by the government of this country. Iranian government is also an hostile entity supporting various terrorist groups (Hezbollah).
Iranian people are not to blame for this, many of them are the first victims of the dictatorship. We can be close to iranian people through business, academic and cultural relationships. But when dealing with their government, we should not forget that while Japan is a democracy, Iran is not.